Atlas E-Mobility Group (ATLAS), a new global Anglo-Moroccan technology company, has announced its mission to launch the first African EV and revolutionize the future of affordable zero-emission mobility.

Headquartered in London, UK, with state-of-the-art manufacturing and development facilities planned for Morocco, one of the world’s fastest-growing and advanced global automotive hubs, ATLAS will utilize a unique blend of British automotive industrialization expertise, disruptive Moroccan technology, and proven manufacturing capability.

This combination will be leveraged to create a superior-engineered, affordable, African EV with Moroccan design and identity to offer a unique appeal to customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) markets initially, with production scheduled for 2026.

ATLAS was co-founded by Mohammed Yehya El Bakkali, the company CEO, and Mohammed Hicham Senhaji Hannoun, the company’s Executive Chairman and CTO, with substantial private funding. The pair combines a visionary approach with a strategic understanding of the need for practical, pragmatic, and viable solutions, particularly in emerging markets with little or no EV infrastructure.

In addition to creating electric vehicles, the group’s offer will extend to advanced range-enhancing technology, battery, and charging networks, further specific details of which will be announced in due course. The company will shortly announce an advisory board, encompassing globally renowned experts in several key sectors, including luminaries of the automotive industry.

Mohammed Yehya El Bakkali, said, “We feel strongly that Africa is being ignored by companies in the EV transition. However, no one should underestimate the continent’s determination to advance nor doubt its ability to produce world-leading zero-carbon-free technological solutions. In the field of transportation, these will prove pivotal to helping limit the rise in global temperatures to less than two degrees Celsius.”

ATLAS was born to harness the Moroccan spirit of endeavor, tech inventiveness, and a longstanding reputation for excellence in global vehicle manufacturing. Combined with British automotive industrialization expertise and utilizing a proven EV architecture from an established OEM, ATLAS will create a vehicle that delivers enterprise, environmental and social value to Africa and beyond, and offers the quality, design, and features expected by customers across the globe.”

The company says,  “We do not underestimate the magnitude or the complexity of the undertaking required to help end the era of fossil-fuel-dependent mobility in Africa. Simply creating an all-electric vehicle on its own will not prove sufficient. That is why ATLAS does not just wish to simply produce EVs – we are determined to go further and be part of a solution that delivers sustainable economic and environmental benefits to Africa and beyond. Together with our global partners, we will deliver a strategic road map to create a wide arc of advanced range-enhancing technologies, battery, and charging infrastructure to render zero-emission mobility a viable proposition for all.”

In the last 20 years and under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Morocco has been growing rapidly as a manufacturing center for global automotive brands, and now ATLAS will take that to the next stage, with a company built on proud Moroccan heritage and engineering and manufacturing values, exporting an African electric car to the world.”

ATLAS was conceived in 2021 with substantial private funding by Mohammed Yehya El Bakkali and Mohammed Hicham Senhaji Hannoun. Headquartered in London, UK, with state-of-the-art production facilities in Morocco, the company will introduce the first African-designed and engineered EV to global markets in 2027.

ATLAS is bolstered by an advisory board of seasoned global automotive OEM, technology, manufacturing, and finance senior leaders. The company combines British automotive industrialization expertise with proven Moroccan manufacturing capability. It will utilize proven OEM EV Architecture and best-in-class global industrial and academic partnerships to create ground-breaking BEVs.

Adopting a pragmatic, holistic strategy for the propagation and democratization of zero-emission mobility, ATLAS will also offer a suite of proprietorial range-enhancing technologies along with battery and charging infrastructure solutions.

With a proven record of excellence in vehicle manufacturing stretching back more than half a century, Morocco leads the African automotive industry sector and is one of the world’s fastest-growing automotive hubs, producing a similar number of cars to Italy each year. In 2022, the country built 464,864 vehicles, representing an increase of 681% since 2011. Morocco has the capacity to produce 700,000 units per year and an ambition to reach 1.5 million vehicles per annum. From global OEMs, including Renault Group and Stellantis, to SMEs and disruptive technology start-ups, more than 250 companies operate within the Moroccan automotive ecosystem participating in vehicle and component manufacturing and R&D, engineering, and testing.